Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction ❯ The Samurai Wives ❯ Water ( Chapter 7 )

Chapter Seven- Water

The rhythmic sound of wood being chopped drifted into the garden. Kaoru looked up and wiped a small bead of sweat from her brow. The days were growing longer. They were also getting hotter. Kaoru had barely realized that she had been away from the Tokeiji the entire winter, as well as a few weeks of the autumn before that.

She pressed her finger into the earth, then dropped a few seeds into it, before covering it with a small amount of soil. The sun was sinking slowly into the far horizon, but the heat still pressed onto her neck. The cool earth on her hands comforted her as she closed her eyes and took in the cool breeze that breathed around her heated neck.

Instinctively, she reached up and touched her neck, feeling the feverish burn of her agitated skin. She cringed when it stung to touch the sun-made redness on her neck.

"Oh…" She whispered softly. How long had she been here, at this house in the countryside? She shivered as the wind made her cold. The sun had slid behind the mountains.

She pressed her finger into the earth again, looking over her work. She had planted many of the seeds, leaving only a small number left in the tiny sac. She dropped a few more into the last hole, taking her time to lovingly cover over the hole in the earth.

"Kaoru!"

She let her fingers linger over the cool earth, wishing a silent prayer that they would grow well, before standing up. "Hai?" She called back to the redhead, who was standing by the house.

He was less intimidating without his swords, which were well hidden inside the house, and he wore his hair in a lower ponytail, hair constantly falling out into his face. His eyes were scanning the horizon, then over into the forest that loomed beside their house.

Their house.

Kaoru wasn't sure why, but she couldn't think of it as her house, or his house… it was their house. She stifled the giggle that nearly bubbled to the surface when he rubbed his temple in agitation.

"Are you coming?" He called impatiently.

"Yes, I'm coming…" She said evenly, striding past him into the house, a tiny grin bursting on her face.

"What are you so happy about?" He was stepping into the tiny kitchen.

"We had a talk, the earth and I." She kneeled beside a small bucket of water, gazing into its depths at her dirty, but contented, face. She plunged her dirty hands into the water, rubbing the dirt off methodically.

He scoffed.

"What?"

"You're never serious."

"And you're too serious. I think that I balance that out." She flicked the water off her hands and stood in the small entrance to the kitchen, watching him with her hands on her hips.

He didn't speak for a moment. Then, "I wish you would be more serious. It's dangerous here, too." His voice was quiet, but he didn't take his eyes off the radish he was carefully slicing.

She sighed and seized a knife, standing next to him. "Has anything happened yet?"

"Did anything happen for the sixteen years you were at your temple? It doesn't have to be immediate. It may still be coming."

"I thought we were going to be safe here." She attacked a radish savagely with the knife.

He stopped his own chopping, laying a hand on her aggravated hands. "You'll ruin it if you cut like that."

She scowled at him. "I don't care."

"I do."

She glared at him, but his eyes remained unemotional. "Fine." She dropped the knife and pulled her hands away from him.

He began to chop his radish again.

"If we're not safe here, why did we come?"

"Because they don't know that we are here. There was word that there was someone who was a spy among us. We don't know who it was… we don't even know how much they told… It's just a possibility that the spy knew we were coming here."

Kaoru stared intently at her mangled radish. She and Kenshin had come to tolerate each other's presence back in Kyoto, but sometimes she thought that maybe she even enjoyed his company. She glanced over at him, his skillful hands delicately cutting into the flesh of the radish.

She gave an involuntary shudder as she turned away. The thought made her think of how many men he had killed.

She heard the clatter of the knife hitting the board.

"Dammit." He muttered softly, and she glanced up to find him pressing his hand to his cheek.

"What happened?"

"It's bleeding again…" He muttered, stepping away from the board. He was backing out of the kitchen slowly, unable to mask the confusion that was written on his face. Blood was seeping through his fingers, down his arm. It was smeared slightly, leaving a crimson stain on his otherwise pale skin.

"Wait!" Kaoru took his free arm and led him out to the well, grabbing a candle and flint quickly before stepping outside. Drawing a bucketful, she kneeled next to him with a small bit of one of her kimono. She dipped the cloth into the water and rinsed off the stains on his face.

The long mark seemed to bleed continuously. She never understood it, but had watched him as he washed it meticulously until the bleeding stopped. Every time it started up again, something like fear seemed to wash over the older teen, as though he was afraid it would never stop bleeding.

It had been weeks since the night they escaped Kyoto, and the long laceration should have long begun to heal itself.

"Kenshin?"

He turned his head to face her, almost in surprise. "Yes?"

"What happened?"

"With what?"

"The night we left. Were you ever hurt like that before?"

He sighed. He was sitting quietly, as she caught the blood sliding from the cut. "No. I have never been injured while…" The words wouldn't seem to come to him.

Kaoru understood. "Then what happened?"

"I hadn't been out… for a while… not since I went to get you. Part of it may have been lack of practice, but I doubt that. We were surprised, and ambushed… Outnumbered… What happened after that… I'm sure you can imagine…"

She nodded, pushing images from her head. "And then… you came back to the inn."

He didn't move much, letting her cleanse the wound. He dangled his fingers in the water that conformed to the wooden bucket, dragging them through its silky comfort. He closed his eyes, letting himself relax against the stones of the well. The world was so chaotic, but Kenshin felt, for the first time in ten years, comforted. He didn't need to see Kaoru's face to know she had all her concentration focused.

"Do you hate me?"

Kaoru stared up at him; his eyes now open to stare at hers. "What?"

"Do you hate me?" He repeated calmly.

"What for?" Her mind was blank with what he was trying to ask her.

"For taking you from the temple. For bringing you here." He waved a hand around to the house.

She laughed and shook her head. "If you hadn't I'd be dead, you know. I'm grateful that you saved my life as many times as you have." She paused and pulled the strip of bloody fabric away. "I don't hate you, Kenshin."

"Are you sure?"

She smiled, and stood slowly. "Come on… let's get back inside." She turned and started to the door.

"Kaoru?"

Twice now. She thought, turning back to face him. Twice he's used my name…

"Hai?"

He was standing up carefully, the night nearly swallowing him. She reached into her sleeve and pulled out the candle, lighting it carefully, the light spilling out from her and illuminating him.

He stepped further in. "I have to go to the town tomorrow… We need to get things."

She nodded and stepped toward the house. "Okay."

He took her arm quickly to stop her. "What am I going to tell them?"

She blinked. "I don't know… That we just moved here."

"I know that… but about you. I can't tell them what we're really here for."

"I don't understand."

"Kaoru… you don't look anything like me… people are going to wonder why… it's not right as it is."

She stared at him. "You mean Katsura didn't give you any instructions on things like this?"

"No." He paused, glancing out into the darkness, as though he felt something was watching. He lowered his voice. "We weren't going to be here this long… it was really only supposed to be a couple days, until we got word that it was safe to come back. We would be relocated to another location… the new head quarters."

"And… you think we may not be going back at all."

He sighed. "I don't know… That's… why I need to know."

Realization struck her. "Oh…" She murmured, thinking back to what he had said. He was right, she knew. She would never pass as his sister. "I could… just… stay here… No one has to know…"

It seemed silly, since she knew that it would never work. If they truly were stranded in the countryside for however long it was that they would be… she couldn't stay hidden forever.

And why was it so hard to just let it go?

She turned and stepped inside. "Just tell them…" She swallowed the lump in her throat. What on earth was keeping her from just saying it?

"Just tell them… I'm your wife."